Abbado box set

[mahlerbone]

Amazon has the Abbado/Mahler box set for only $25.  I have all of the individual recordings except for M1, M2 and M4.  Is it worth getting the set so that I can hear these three?  I was thinking about getting the box set and then giving my individual Abbados to a good friend who is just getting into Mahler's music.

Another question:  This is the Abbado M5 that I have.  https://www.amazon.com/Mahler-Symphony-No-5-Gustav/dp/B000001GIX

And this is the M8:  https://www.amazon.com/Mahler-Symphony-No-8-flat-Thousand/dp/B01M1M8AQL

Are the recordings in the box set different than mine?

[James Meckley]

Are the recordings in the box set different than mine?

The M5 and M8 you have are the same ones you'll find in the new box, which is all with the Berlin Philharmonic except for the M2 which is with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The Berlin M8 is the only commercial recording Abbado ever made of that work. He also made only one M5 in Berlin, his earlier one having been made with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

As to whether you should buy the entire box to get the three symphonies you don't have, I suppose that would depend on how much you value Abbado's approach to Mahler. At that price, I'd grab it, but then I'm an obsessive collector.

James

[barry guerrero]

That's certainly a very good price. The Lucerne Festival M2 is really very good. The problem with the Berlin remake of M4 is that Renee Fleming is awful in the finale (fine on the Berg songs), and the scherzo isn't the slightest bit scary. I prefer his earlier Vienna M4 with von Stade. I've never cared for Abbado in M1, but his Berlin remake of that is certainly adequate.

[GL]

Amazon has the Abbado/Mahler box set for only $25.  I have all of the individual recordings except for M1, M2 and M4.  Is it worth getting the set so that I can hear these three?  I was thinking about getting the box set and then giving my individual Abbados to a good friend who is just getting into Mahler's music.

Another question:  This is the Abbado M5 that I have.  https://www.amazon.com/Mahler-Symphony-No-5-Gustav/dp/B000001GIX

And this is the M8:  https://www.amazon.com/Mahler-Symphony-No-8-flat-Thousand/dp/B01M1M8AQL

Are the recordings in the box set different than mine?

For your reference: Abbado made 3 commercial recordings of M5, the first (and the best) with the Chicago Symphony (Studio rec., CD and, recently, an absurdly expensive SACD), the second with Berlin Philharmonic (Live rec., CD & SACD), the third with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra (DVD & Blu-ray). On Youtube you can find a Fifth with the Vienna Philharmonic (Live Recording in Salzburg Festival, 1980):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32nmt68KNWU

As it has been just written, he made just one recording of M8, with the Berlin Philharmonic (Live, CD). He was supposed to conduct it again for his Lucerne cycle and for a concert in Milan, but, during an interview on the Italian television, he stated something to the effect that M8 gave him nothing and it was no more interested in it. I still suspect it was an excuse in order to avoid saying he had no more strength for such a huge enterprise, but it's just a speculation of mine. At the Milan concert he eventually conducted the Sixth.

In my opinion, if you had the complete cycles of:

Bertini (EMI)

Bernstein 1 (Sony, the last Japanese remastering)

Bernstein 2 (DG)

Chailly (Decca)

Gielen (Haenssler Classics)

you can happily live without the Abbado set..

[mahlerbone]

I probably won't need the Abbado set, especially if the M1 and M4 are just average.  Even if the M2 is great, I already have a ton of fantastic recordings of the 2nd.

I've listened to the first two symphonies of both the Stenz and Nott box sets.  I'm really happy with the Stenz because of its terrific sound quality.  I can see what some say about Nott's M1 being kind of dull, but it does have its exciting moments.  And I really enjoyed Nott's M2.  The 2nd and 3rd movements seemed slower than normal but I liked the way that Nott conducted them.  I also ordered the Harding M6, which isn't shipping for 1 to 3 weeks.  But it came with a digital download and from what I heard it seems like a very exciting performance.

[barry guerrero]

One big moment to pay attention to in the J. Nott M2:  Like Slatkin, notice that you CAN hear the series of tam-tam strokes at the final climax of the finale's long march section (something like 7 or 8 in total). It's not just a minute detail - it makes a big difference in that passage, and helps to make sense of Mahler's insistent repetitions for the trumpets there. Good organ too.